England's crestfallen players departed this arena numbed in abject defeat tonight, with Frank Lampard conceding that the country's most experienced ever World Cup squad had been guilty of "naivety" in capitulating to Germany.

There was resentment at the referee Jorge Larrionda's error in denying England an equaliser seven minutes before half-time, when Lampard's dipping shot bounced down from the bar and clearly over the goal-line, though that masked deeper problems. "Everyone could see it was a goal, which would have sent us in level at half-time, and we hit the bar again after the interval," said Lampard. "But maybe we showed a bit of desperation and naivety in trying to push and push.

"We were caught on sucker punches in counter-attacks. It is the story of the game: nobody can stand here and tell me Germany were a lot better than us. They were not 4-1 better than us. But things have conspired against us. Maybe we have conspired against ourselves at times, but it just didn't go for us."

Although Lampard suggested the final scoreline was unreflective of the game as a whole, Germany's dominance was clear long before the end and their captain, Philipp Lahm, suggested England had been guilty of over-confidence. "Maybe England were not prepared for this game as they should have been," he said.

"Maybe they underestimated us because our players aren't as famous as theirs. But while we have a young team, we are a good side. Their defence couldn't handle us because we have good strikers."

Steven Gerrard was as brutal with his assessment of his own side's shortcomings. "We've been beaten by the better team," he said. "We had good parts of the game where we passed the ball well and got into good areas. At 2-1, if Frank's goal would have counted it could have been a turning point in the game, but we can't use that as an excuse. They've scored four goals and we only got one, which tells its own story.

"They were more clinical in front of goal and they made less mistakes than us and we got punished for that. We made too many mistakes as a team. Germany were more organised than us and were more clinical. They got in five or six times and scored four goals, so you've got to give them credit. Germany were the better team for the 90 minutes, and the third goal was the killer.

"Everyone in the dressing room is hurting: the coaching staff and the players. We'll go away in the summer and analyse things personally, but it's very disappointing to go out at this stage. Before this game, and even during it, I had confidence we could progress. Everyone is to blame for the fact we didn't.

"We came into this tournament with big togetherness, and it would be very unfair of me to pick out individuals. For me it's the group. If we'd have won we'd have all got pats on the back so we have to take the responsibility and the grief ourselves.

"Everyone's deflated and disappointed," said John Terry. "Not much was said in there. There was just silence, really, and everyone was down because we felt, coming here, that we had a good chance. That disappoints us more than anything."

Asked whether elimination should now prompt a change of manager or playing personnel, the former captain added: "I can't believe we're even having that conversation."

Following their humiliating World Cup exit, England must now look ahead to their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, which begins at home to Bulgaria on 3 September. But who should be at the helm for the game: Fabio Capello or someone else?